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A former Diocese of Scranton priest convicted in 2013 of sexually assaulting an altar boy in Tioga County recently was denied parole because he refuses to undergo sexual offender treatment while incarcerated.

Thomas P. Shoback, 66, was eligible to seek release on Aug. 19, but the state parole board refused to consider his case because he has not taken part in treatment mandated by law.

Shoback is among more than 300 priests named in the statewide investigating grand jury report, released Aug. 14, on decades of clergy sexual abuse of children in six Pennsylvania Roman Catholic dioceses, including Scranton.

Ordained in 1977, Shoback served at various Northeast Pennsylvania churches, including parishes in Plymouth, Hazleton, East Stroudsburg and Jermyn.

Shoback was arrested in June 2012, after a man said the priest sexually abused him between 1991 and 1997, when he was an altar boy at St. Mary’s parish in Blossburg, Tioga County. The Citizens’ Voice does not identify victims of sexual abuse.

A jury convicted Shoback on April 30, 2013, on nine charges, including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and endangering the welfare of a child. He was sentenced on Aug. 19, 2013, to five to 10 years in state prison and was deemed a sexually violent predator. He is incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Waymart.

State inmates are eligible for parole once they serve their minimum sentences. The board notified Shoback in December that it would not consider his case until he agrees to take part in sexual offender treatment programs.

Scranton attorney Christopher Powell, who represented Shoback at his trial, is not surprised Shoback refused to take part in the programs. Shoback adamantly denied the allegations and continues to maintain his innocence.

“He’s been told ... if you admit it and participate, you can shorten your sentence,” Powell said. “He refused to admit it or participate, so he’s going to serve the maximum.”

Powell said he thought Shoback had a good chance of being acquitted at trial. He felt he presented strong evidence that the alleged incidents could not have happened when the accuser said. He was hampered in proving his case, however, because of the amount of time that elapsed between when the alleged crimes occurred and when the charges were filed.

“It’s a problem with all sex abuse cases,” Powell said. “It was so long ago no one had a witness that was there.”

Powell said he had other evidence that called into question the accuser’s credibility, including actions he took after he became an adult.

“He invited (Shoback) to his wedding,” Powell said. “They sent gifts and Christmas cards back and forth.”

Shoback filed multiple appeals of his conviction. In August 2014, the state Superior Court upheld Shoback’s conviction and sentence. The state Supreme Court declined to hear the case in January 2015. Shoback then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal, but it declined to accept the case in October 2015.

In October 2016, Shoback filed an appeal with Tioga County under the state’s post conviction collateral relief act — an appeal that is taken after all other appeals have been exhausted. However, he withdrew that petition shortly after filing it.

Shoback was removed permanently from the ministry in November 2014. The diocese said it referred his case to the Vatican to determine if he should be laicized, but a decision is not expected until he is released from prison. If he serves the maximum sentence, he will be released on Aug. 19, 2023.

Contact the writer:

tbesecker@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9137

@tmbeseckerTT

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